In the core series games

Price

Effect

It allows the player to identify otherwise unidentifiable ghosts that appear inside the Pokémon Tower in Lavender Town, allowing the player to properly battle them and throw Poké Balls at them. It is required to ascend the staircase on 6F of the Pokémon Tower that is guarded by a ghost Marowak.

Acquisition

In the anime

In Pokémon Origins

The Silph Scope made an appearance in File 2: Cubone. It was possessed by a small group of Team Rocket Grunts who were holding Mr. Fuji captive at the Pokémon Tower. Like in the games, the Silph Scope had the ability to unveil the true identity of both Ghost-type Pokémon and real ghosts. The Silph Scope was later stolen from the Grunts by Blue, who then gave it to Red, allowing him to identify the ghost he was fighting as Cubone's dead mother, Marowak. Afterwards, Red returned the Silph Scope to the Rocket Grunts, who presumably took it with themselves as they left after being defeated by Red in a battle.

During the FireRed & LeafGreen chapter, when a mysterious Pokémon attacked Green aboard the Seagallop Ferry, she used the Scope to unveil it, although she couldn't recognize it. Red and Blue later recovered the Silph Scope, and although they didn't recognize the mysterious Pokémon at the time either, the recording on the Scope served as their first glimpse of it.

In the Pokémon Pocket Monsters manga

Silph Scope in the Pokémon Pocket Monsters manga

The Silph Scope first appears in Get Rid Of The Ghost Pokémon!!. Red's rival, Blue, is shown to have one and used it to identify Gengar's movements during its battle with Clefairy. However, Clefairy took the Silph Scope and used it to his advantage to defeat Gengar. Unlike its game counterpart, the Silph Scope is shaped as glasses and it was not shown to come from Silph Co.

In the Pokémon Zensho manga

The Silph Scope was seen in Celadon City. After Satoshi had been scared away from the Pokémon Tower by a Gastly, he saw several Team Rocket Grunts exciting the Tower, using a Silph Scope to avoid being scared by the ghosts. Satoshi then secretly followed the Grunts to the Rocket Hideout, where he snatched one of the Scopes that were in there. Using the Scope, he was able to get past of the ghosts in the Tower and all the way to the top floor, where he encountered Mr. Fuji, who was being held captive by Team Rocket.

Trivia

In Generation I, if the player uses a Poké Doll to flee from the Marowak ghost, it will disappear as if it had been defeated. This allows the player to proceed in the games' story without obtaining the Silph Scope (making battling the Rocket Hideout unnecessary).

In Generation I, if the player views the status screen of a Pokémon, the ghost's sprite will change to that of the actual Pokémon. However, it still cannot be battled or caught.